Labyrinth references FTW! I’ll come back to that. In other news, I wore makeup today!

I don’t wear makeup to work very frequently these days because of that jogging business I told you about. Mister Principessa and I get out of bed at 5:15 to jog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, which doesn’t leave me that much time to get ready for work. (I work early hours; being up at 5:15 and out the door by 6:30 means I’m home by 3:45. Sweeeeet.) Also, I heat up like a chubby little furnace when exercising, and it takes me a LONG time to cool down, stop sweating, and de-redden in the facial area. So the last thing I want to do after getting out of my post-jog shower is stand in a steamy bathroom in front of a foggy mirror and attempt to apply makeup to my sweaty, beet-red face.

However, I have two jog-free days per week, so sometimes I use that extra time in the morning to put on makeup. Like this morning, for instance! Fairly neutral, work-safe look here, but I ended up really liking it.

(Sorry for the lack of full-face photos, AGAIN. The Mister and I are still fiddling with the camera, and all the full-face pictures we took today made me look either super wide or, as he so tactfully put it, “like Gonzo.”)

Product breakdown:

UDPP

Urban Decay Sellout all over lids and in and above crease

Urban Decay Virgin to highlight (from Naked palette)

Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Underground on upper lids

Clinique High Impact mascara in black/brown

Apparently I was all about the Urban Decay today. And incidentally, Underground eyeliner is gorgeous and I love it. I ordered one of UD’s five-mini-eyeliner sets a while back, and this color was included. I hadn’t used it before today, and holy cow, I was missing out! It’s a beautiful metallic taupe sort of color, but it has an almost rosy cast to it as well. Very subtle and beautiful. I also like that it looks like a COLOR: I got Gunmetal eyeliner in that same set, and I just can’t get on board with it. It looks nice up close, but from a distance, it just looks like a crappy, low-pigment, fading black. Not good.

Anyway, I love Underground so much that I had to swatch it. Although I would like to note that its name makes me think of this song, which I had in my head all day today.

Indirect outdoor light:

Direct sunlight:

While we’re at it, let’s discuss my nail polish! It’s Revlon Matte Suede in Powder Puff (I also have this in Emerald City, which you may have noticed on my toes yesterday).

Bad news first: I don’t know that I’m crazy about this polish’s formula. It took four coats to get it reasonably opaque, and it’s still a bit streaky. Otherwise, I love it. The finish is gorgeous–check it out! This is in direct sunlight.

Mmmmm … satiny! And I think that the minimal amount of wear is impressive, considering that I painted my nails on either Sunday or Monday night, I type all day, and I didn’t use a top coat (I do NOT understand it when people use matte polishes and then add glossy top coats). Of course, the fact that the polish and the tips of my nails are both white goes some way to hide chipping, but still. I am the QUEEN of chippy, peely polish, and I’m impressed with how well this is holding up.

It is my extreme good fortune to live about two and a half blocks from a Rite Aid. They have excellent and frequent sales, including regular occurrences of that Holy Grail of sales, the Buy One, Get One free (or half off). Tonight, I took advantage of the current BOGO 1/2 off to pick up two new Prestige eyeliners.

But even more exciting are my two brush purchases. As you might have read the other day, I’m currently on the hunt for decent cheap-ass eyeshadow brushes. So I picked up a Studio Basics “retractable” eye shading & detailer brush, as well as another one from Maybelline. (Incidentally, I put “retractable” in quotes because it’s not actually retractable–there are little hollow pieces that pop out of the handle to cover up the brush heads. NOT RETRACTABLE. They should call it a “cover-up-able eye shading & detailer brush,” because words mean things. </pedant>) The Maybelline one was 40% off, bonus! I’m going to try them out over the next couple of days, and if they work OK, they’ll accompany me on vacation.

In further brush update news, based on recommendations from Heather and Galen, I also ordered four e.l.f. brushes online today: the contour and concealer brushes from their Studio line (I thought the concealer one might work well as an eye shader … I guess we’ll find out!), and their regular eyeshadow and blending brushes. One of these days, when I’m not making a half-assed attempt to curb my spending because of an upcoming vacation, I also plan to try out the GOSH and Sigma brushes (the latter also recommended by Galen).

And to finish out the Rite Aid angle, here’s my current nail polish. CQ Petites Color Fever in Vintage Gray.

The second picture shows the color more accurately, but they both seem to indicate that the polish has a hint of lilac, which I don’t see in real life. In fact, the word that comes to mind is “putty.” I think I love these CQ polishes. I really like the formula, and I REALLY like the teeny brush on this gray one. I’m an extremely lazy and sloppy nail polisher, and the smallness of the brush minimizes the “polish all over the fingers” syndrome that usually plagues me for days after a polishing.

Incidentally, after we got home from the drugstore tonight, when I sat down to write, Mister Principessa asked me, “Hey, aren’t you going to put on that makeup and take pictures of it?” In time, my dear boy. In time.

[Holy CRAP this is a terrible picture, and it does no justice to the polish whatsoever. I don’t know how you nail bloggers do it.]

Now, I am by no means a “nails person.” My nails don’t grow very well, and I don’t do the acrylics thing; I have a desk job that requires me to type all day, plus I love to knit and cook, and I think long nails would get in the way. Also, I’m not a huge fan of wearing sparkly/shimmery/glittery/otherwise “fancy” nail polishes on my fingers. On my toes, I go nuts. But on my fingernails, I like to keep it simple. I prefer to wear very dark or otherwise sort of drab creme colors–blue so dark it almost looks black, green so dark it almost looks black, red so dark it almost looks black, grayish taupe, lilac-ish taupe, brownish taupe, you get the idea.

So, given that I am something of a spoilsport when it comes to fingernails, I’m sort of shocked that I like wearing this color as much as I do. AND I DO. It’s a really nice shade of purple, and it has this amazing metallic finish that almost looks like plastic. If you’ve ever seen those metallic-looking plastic Mardi Gras beads, or metallic-looking tokens (which the Intarweb tells me are anodized aluminum), it looks like that. And I lurve it.

For the curious, it is CQ Nail Polish enamel in Mystical. The only downside to it is that getting it this opaque took four coats, but I tend to be extremely conservative with coat thickness. The finish is incredibly smooth. It’s held up very well, and I am HARD on my nails, what with all the typing and knitting and cooking and subsequent doing of dishes by hand.

Yarn is Knit Picks Shadow laceweight in Vineyard Heather. Nail polish is Wet ‘n’ Wild Megalast Nail Color in Disturbia. I was actually pretty impressed with this polish. It’s a nice deep purple with fuchsia shimmer (which unfortunately showed up a lot better in the bottle than it did on my fingers) and it really did last for a long time, even on my ridiculously peely and chip-prone little stump-nails.

Anyone else do this? Accidentally buy a bunch of things the exact same color, or accidentally buy multiples of the same eyeshadow, nail polish, lipstick, whatever? I know I do. Obviously.

I also occasionally check out books that I already own from the library, but that’s my burden.

… gray and taupe aren’t the only colors I can’t stay away from at the moment.

Yarn on the left is Dream in Color Smooshy in Punky Fuschia. Yarn on the right is The Loopy Ewe Solid Series in Orchid. Both sock yarns, both purchased from The Loopy Ewe. Nail polish is Sephora by OPI in Domestic Goddess.

And no, none of this was intentional. I bought the Dream in Color first, then the Loopy Ewe yarn, then the nail polish. Then looked at them all and went “… Huh.”

I know what I like! Someday I’ll tell you all about my purple laceweight problem collection!